The War-Hawk's Apprentice
by VNaz123
Summary: A response to AlucardY17's challenge. What changes will be brought to the Elemental Nations by a Danzo-trained Jinchuriki? Powerful! Naruto. Pairings are as of yet undecided.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

The War-Hawk's Apprentice

**Author's note: Hi there! This will be my first attempt at fanfiction and I hope that it won't be a complete failure. This is a response to a challenge issued by AlucardY17. As per the challenge, this will be a seriously powerful Naruto who's been trained by Danzo.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own nothing!**

Chapter 1: Prologue

**Konohagakure no Sato (roughly 5 years after the Kyubi's attack)**

As the sun set on yet another summer's day, four figures could be seen on the roof of the Hokage mansion. While they seemed, to an untrained eye, to simply be enjoying the view of the sunset, a more skilled observer would take note of the growing tension among them.

"Are you going to continue to ignore this, Hiruzen?" The question came from a man that could only be described as an old cripple, far past his prime. There was no hint that the heavily bandaged man was one of Konoha's most powerful shinobi, or at least, he had been in the past. This man's name was Shimura Danzo. The man the question was addressed to was just as old and frail-looking as Danzo. Sarutobi Hiruzen was Konoha's longest reigning Hokage and had several titles that emphasized his knowledge of the shinobi arts. He was also the only Hokage to ever live long enough to retire, and was then forced to return to his post after his successor met an untimely death at the hands (or claws) of the strongest of the Biju.

"I am not ignoring anything, Danzo", The Hokage's tone was measured, with a hint of a warning buried within. It didn't deter the only female of the group though. "Hiruzen, this is the fifth time the boy has been sent to intensive care in the last year. Are you so blinded by your desire to see the child live a normal life that you would condemn him to a childhood of utter misery?", Utatane Koharu was never one to mince words, especially not with her old teammate, regardless of whether he was Hokage or not. The final male sighed before speaking up, "Old friend, Danzo's reasoning is sound. We cannot afford to have an untrained Jinchuriki running around..."

"Enough!" The soft command silenced the elderly advisor, who simply frowned before stepping back. Hiruzen Sarutobi glared at the three elders before continuing, "We, and Konoha itself owes Uzumaki Naruto a great deal; and that is not even considering the sacrifice of his parents. I will not spit upon Minato's last wish by turning his son into an emotionless tool. Or did you think that I have actually forgotten about your preferred training methods, Danzo?"

"I never said he would be an emotionless tool", came Danzo's calm reply. "And I respect Namikaze Minato as much as you do, Hiruzen. However, while I would give the boy the means for defending himself, you would do nothing?" "At the cost of his humanity...". "No. If you even read through my proposal completely, I requested the boy as my apprentice. I have no desire to turn him into a puppet. As far as I am concerned, he would do far better holding the strings instead." Danzo turned to look into his greatest rival's eyes as he continued to speak, "I am old, Hiruzen. I have no illusions of ever becoming Hokage anymore. Also, I have yet to leave a legacy. I have made no mark on the shinobi world. You had the distinction of training the strongest team in the Elemental Nations. Now all I ask is for you to give me a chance to do the same. If I can start his training now, I will not only be able to maximize his potential, but also offer him some measure of protection from the hostility of those who spit on the sacrifice of the Yondaime Hokage with every glare and every abuse they direct at the boy."

Perhaps it was this final sentence that got through, perhaps not, but the Hokage's shoulders slumped slightly. Naruto had to become a shinobi after all. His father had sealed his fate the moment he had sealed the Kyubi into the newborn child. Perhaps Danzo was right; his desire to see Naruto live a happy childhood was selfish – one that put the happiness of a single child over the future of the entire village – and as Hokage, he was honour-bound not to do so. And perhaps allowing Naruto to be trained early would help the boy prepare for the challenges that no doubt lingered on the horizon.

"Very well. You may train him." just saying the words seemed to take a lot out of the aged Kage. Danzo nodded, no trace of any emotion visible on what could be seen of his face. As he turned to leave however, his leader's voice cut through the air, "On one condition. I will personally evaluate his mental condition every month. And this is not negotiable. If I see even a hint of your brand of emotional conditioning..." The temperature seemed to drop a few degrees around the two men. Danzo turned and bowed slightly, "Understood, Hokage-sama." Before leaving towards the hospital to inform his new apprentice about the change in his status.

And just like that, everything changed.


	2. Chapter 2: The hidden roots

Chapter 2: The hidden roots

**Timeskip: 9 years after the Kyubi's attack**

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang through the underground training chamber. A novice at shinobi battle would only be able to make out blurred shapes and sparks that formed each time the sound rang out. The more experienced, however, would be able to witness a running battle between four shinobi, one of whom was noticeably shorter than the rest.

Ninjato clashed against tanto in what was surely a one-sided, three-on-one fight; and yet the short male seemed to hold his own against the odds. A slight misstep later, the dark-coloured bandana obscuring his hair fell away, revealing spiky golden locks. The discarded piece of clothing was grabbed mid-air and flung into the face of his opponent. The brief respite gained from this underhanded move allowed the blond to disengage and move back – straight into the path of twin fireballs coming from opposite directions. The resulting explosion kicked up a great deal of debris and obscured the vision of the attacking trio of black-clad shinobi.

As they focused on the dust cloud, not one of them noticed their target standing right above them – on the ceiling, in fact. His hands were already in the _bird_ handseal as he breathed in... And promptly launched a gust of cutting wind straight towards one of his opponents. He didn't bother checking whether his jutsu hit; his attackers were far too skilled for that to have worked. Instead, he once more launched himself at a second attacker, who was in the process of turning towards him. A loud clang was heard as the man blocked the falling slash with his tanto. The blond, however, used the force of his momentum and the leverage of the block to twist his body and land a powerful kick to the man's masked visage, knocking him out of the battle. As he touched onto the ground, he was forced to duck two slashes aimed at his neck and torso respectively.

Hastily backpedalling, the blond slashed his ninjato haphazardly. The lack of finesse in the strike didn't stop the remaining two opponents from leaping back. They had every reason to do so, as blades of wind carved deep trenches into the ground they had only just been standing on. When they looked back, they barely managed to guard against the simultaneous strikes of not one, but two identical blonds. Holding his blade in his right hand to lock his opponent in place, one of the masked shinobi let a smaller blade fall into his left hand and stabbed the blond in his chest – a fatal strike that would have slipped between his ribs and straight into his heart – that is, if his opponent was human. The now identified Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) grimaced before exploding – not into smoke, as was supposed to happen – but literally exploded with the force of a medium grade paper bomb.

Facing his last opponent, the blond grinned savagely as the memory of his clone filtered through his mind. "Two down, one to go." Was what went through his mind as he launched himself at his foe in a frontal assault. Said opponent readied himself... and was knocked unconscious by a second clone that had crept up on him unseen.

The blond sighed and lowered his guard, only to nearly drop his blade in shock as a stern voice echoed through the chamber. "Pathetic!" Shimura Danzo stepped into view from one of the shadowed corners as his single visible eye glared at the blond. "Just what was that? I don't remember teaching you to telegraph every single of your actions, apprentice."

"Ah! Sorry about that, sensei. It's just that I increased the resistance level on my seals..." "What have I told you about excuses?" "Sorry sensei, but aren't you taking this a bit too far? I mean, I did beat your lackeys." The blond's tone carried an undercurrent of frustration. It was well-hidden, but to Danzo, the child might as well have been broadcasting his emotions to him. "I hold you to a different level than these tools, Naruto" was the old man's reply.

Naruto sighed again, pulling down his facemask to expose his rounded face and whisker-like birthmarks to the man he owed nearly everything to. "My apologies sensei. I will do better next time."

"See that you do" was the curt reply. Danzo studied the young shinobi in front of him. In less than 4 years, the blond had gone from being a civilian with ridiculous stamina to a skilled shinobi who could hold his own against any jonin of Konoha, barring the truly exceptional ones such as Hatake Kakashi and Might Guy. His skills were prodigious in Kenjutsu, the art of the blade, and Fuinjutsu, the art of seals. While Danzo doubted that Naruto was ready to face one of Kirigakure's famed swordsmen or even the more experienced samurai of Tetsu no Kuni, he had no doubt that the blond could beat the best sword users that Konoha had to offer: Uzuki Yugao and Gekko Hayate. With the help of some Uzumaki clan scrolls that just happened to come into his possession after the death of one Uzumaki Kushina, he was able to instruct the boy in the basics of Fuinjutsu before leaving him to master as much of the art as he could using the scrolls. A deal struck with the powerful entity sealed within him rendered Naruto immune to all but the most powerful and subtle of Genjutsu. The child had very little talent for actually using the Illusionary arts, a few cloaking Genjutsu were the extent of his skill here and even those few had cost him more effort than what went into all of his Ninjutsu – combined. Naruto's skill with Ninjutsu was also above average – though that was only because he could create hundreds of shadow clones that could train Ninjutsu for him and then transfer their accumulated experience to the original. He had a small yet varied repertoire of Ninjutsu that spanned all five elements. In addition, his usage of the Replacement technique was flawless as he no longer required handseals for that particular jutsu. Concerning his elemental manipulation, he was just as good as Danzo himself in manipulating wind, his natural affinity.

What truly made Naruto stand out from the other prodigies that Konoha had produced, though, was the fact that he was a Jinchuriki. After years of emotional and physical conditioning and dozens of debates, talks, speeches and arguments with his prisoner, Naruto was able to use two versions of the Biju's cloak. The first simply formed a red haze of Chakra around him in the vague form of a nine-tailed, long-eared entity, while the second version was a truly demonic transformation where the corrosive red chakra of the strongest Biju formed a layer with an almost liquid-like consistency over his skin. The chakra would take the form of a miniature nine-tailed demon, complete with a bone skull and skeleton armour of a Kitsune. While the first state boosted every single of his abilities by a vast amount, the second state granted him the destructive power of a rampaging demon, with a few attacks particular to the Biju. In Danzo's opinion, only a fellow Jinchuriki or someone bearing the Wood Release bloodline or the Mangekyo Sharingan could hope to match Naruto in this state. Truly, the boy was the epitome of what a shinobi ought to be. With one exception...

"Sensei, can I go get something to eat? I'm starving" Yes, due to the Sandaime's condition, Danzo was unable to put Naruto through the training that would render him emotionless and completely loyal to Danzo and no one else. At times, it was frustrating. After all, he had intended to turn Naruto into a perfect ROOT soldier, no matter what he may or may not have implied to Sarutobi back when he was still trying to convince him to hand Naruto over for training. Instead, Danzo had to modify Naruto's emotional conditioning such that his emotionless facade only lasted for as long as a fight did.

As Danzo gazed at the blond in front him, he could not deny the advantages of having a subordinate that actually understood emotions. One of them was the reason he had chosen Naruto for a particular task...

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Another mission? What is it this time sensei? Some more bandit trash?" Once in the briefing room, Naruto's serious personality once more came to the fore as he stared at his teacher.

"Not this time" said Danzo. "This will be an infiltration mission. There have been rumours of a slavery ring operating within the borders of Hi no Kuni. I want it found and shut down. Begin your search at Tanzaku Gai. There have been a few kidnappings there recently, all of them between the ages of 7 to 13. Infiltrate the ring by any means necessary, find evidence of its financial backers and raze their operations in Hi no Kuni to the ground. I don't want even their roots to remain."

"Sensei, are you alright? You seem a bit...off." Naruto questioned his superior's enthusiasm.

Danzo scowled slightly. "There are signs of Iwagakure involvement. And anything that benefits them is definitely not good for Konoha. That being said, if there is any shinobi involvement, terminate them. You are to return before the month ends and your next meeting with the Hokage is due."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tanzaku Gai is a lively town that attracts many adults because of its gambling opportunities and fine women. One might even say that there is a year-long festival celebrated in said town. As such, it didn't take much effort for a trained child shinobi to blend into the crowd. Wearing civilian clothes and having both his chakra and his more noticeable features hidden using a combination of the Henge and Fuinjutsu, Naruto was just another face in the crowd. He easily slipped into the role of a homeless child and kept his ear to the ground listening for anything that might give him a clue about the slavers. Not very surprisingly it didn't take long. You see, when living out on the streets, children tend to come together and form a network for their own safety and survival. Very little passes by this network without being picked up, and Naruto knew this through his own experience that allowed him to blend into the local network without much fuss.

"The East district, you say?" "Yeah, us regulars avoid that place like the plague. Lotsa snatchers in that place. Little Seo went there just a month ago. I told him not to but he wasn't listening. Just wanted to make some more cash." "And he didn't come back, eh?" "Nope, never saw him again. No one did." "Thanks for the tip. I'll make sure to stay as far away as possible." Naruto prepared to leave before his talkative informant called out to him again, "Just a sec. Try staying out of sight of those shinobi. They're helping the snatchers. Might even be the snatchers." Naruto stiffened, "Shinobi, you say? Shinobi are hunting us kids down?" "Yeah. Hiro was hiding behind a trashcan one night when he saw them, with their shiny forehead protectors and all." Naruto nodded, "Thanks again, hopefully those adults will actually get off their asses and catch the bad guys for a change." The street urchin barked out a laugh, "As if!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night, Naruto headed towards the East district. Hopefully, the information he received was accurate. He spent some time skulking in the lanes of what had to be Tanzaku Gai's red-light district. The women around him and their state of dress certainly lent credence to the theory. For the first part of his mission, i.e. the infiltration, he had two plans – either happen upon a kidnapping and follow the culprit or...

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A silky voice came from the shadows behind him. Having already detected the man's presence over five minutes ago, Naruto forced himself to look startled and scared, even beginning the action to turn away and run, when a large hand clamped down on his shoulder and held him firmly in place. "What's a little man like you doing all alone in a place like this, hmm? Where are your parents?" Naruto finally faced the man, making sure to keep up his frightened mask. The speaker was tall, at least 6 feet in height and towered above Naruto's 4 foot frame. He was clean-shaven and sported a tan, his skin looking almost brown in colour. He had dark, closely-cropped hair. But what captured Naruto's attention the most, was the tarnished metal plate attached to his arm. On it was symbol of the Village hidden in the Rocks with a neat line slashing across the symbol. He had no visible weapons on him, but he was apparently a shinobi hunting young orphans. Who needed weapons for something like that?

'Plan B then', Naruto thought, before speaking in a shaky voice. "I don't have any sir, I'm sorry, really. Can you please let me go?" "Let you go?", the nukenin widened his eyes in an exaggerated manner. "Oh no! I can't leave you alone on the streets like this. Tell you what; I have a friend who owns a nice restaurant here. Why don't we go there and I'll get you something to eat? You look like you haven't had anything to eat for a long time." "You don't have to..." was as far as Naruto got before the man's hand came down on the back of his neck in a hard chop, knocking him unconscious.

"Well, looks like I got another one for this week's shipment. I suppose Gato will be pleased with the extra numbers this time." The shinobi smirked before hoisting the unconscious child under his arm and leaping away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto's return to consciousness was not pleasant. However, he had experienced far worse in the past and was not particularly bothered by the fact that he had woken up with his feet chained to a post. He looked around, checking out his surroundings. The place looked like a warehouse, and from the smell, it had been in use for human trafficking for quite some time. There were seven other kids with him in the room, all with varying expressions of hopelessness on their face. Completely ignoring them, Naruto bent down and began examining the lock chaining his feet. 'Fairly straightforward', he thought, 'And look, a conveniently placed nail!' Picking up said nail, he began to fiddle around with the lock. Within seconds, it clicked open and he stepped out of the chains.

"It's no use" One of the captives spoke up. "There are ninja guarding the place. If you try to escape, they'll kill you."

Naruto smirked, but left without replying. As he moved into a passageway, he clung to the shadows to avoid notice and made his way deeper into the warehouse, towards where he thought the office would be. The place had shockingly lax security, considering that shinobi were involved. Perhaps it was just the one nukenin? Regardless, Naruto kept his guard up and moved towards the now visible office. There didn't seem to be anyone inside, so he quickly picked the lock and went inside. Once in, he looked around the rather cluttered office and held in a grimace. 'This is going to take some time', he thought.

He had been poking around for a while before he detected someone moving up the stairs. Having all the patience of a trained killer who just happened to be nine years old (i.e. none at all) and having no luck finding any documents, he prepared to get the information he wanted via his favourite method of interrogation. As the door slammed open, framing the figure of the shinobi that had knocked him out the night before, Naruto grinned savagely and cracked his knuckles, allowing a smidgen of the Kyubi's chakra to flow through his body, shattering the seals that had held his chakra back. "Oh yes! I do remember you owing me a meal, bastard!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Eight? That's quite a haul for this week, Shin." A man dressed in a dark business suit walked up to the warehouse in the industrial district that was his. Of course, anyone actually trying to link him to said property would have to work his way through at least half-a-dozen shell companies first. "You won't be disappointed, Amagai. I even managed to get a few completely healthy ones this time around. Maybe you could charge extra for them?" The shinobi that had knocked out Naruto two nights earlier leaned against the wall beside the door that the suited man, Amagai, was heading towards. "And have Gato whine at me some more? I don't think so. That man may pay well, but he's a nightmare to deal with. I say we just get the agreed-upon sum and move on to the next town. We don't want to attract attention from Konoha."

"I'm afraid that's too late, boss." Amagai, who had his hand on the door handle, whirled to face Shin, whose voice just sounded completely different – younger, and higher pitched. His hand was in the middle of pulling out a knife when he felt his body lock into place. Where Shin once stood, there was now another figure. For some reason, everything about the figure was indistinct, from his height to even his voice. The only thing Amagai could make out were two glowing red eyes; eyes that promised an excruciating and slow death. "Now then", the figure's voice was now sultry, feminine, "You will tell me everything you know about this slavery operation. And don't leave anything out. I haven't had fun in a long time and I'm just so anxious..." By the time the voice trailed off, it sounded demonic.

Needless to say, Amagai sang like a canary.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This mission was supposed to last you a month." Danzo stared at his apprentice and then down at the rather thick folder that was the mission report.

"What can I say, sensei? I got lucky. It was easy enough to infiltrate the place as a victim seeing as they were targeting homeless orphans." Naruto's face was expressionless as he finished delivering the oral report of the mission to his sensei. "It seems that a certain Gato is behind everything. Will he be killed, sensei?"

"Not yet. Gato is actually among the richest people in the Elemental Nations at this time. His shipping industry is practically the lifeblood of all overseas trade. Killing him now can potentially cripple Konoha's economy. I will first have to remove his influence from Konoha's market. Then, he will be assassinated." As usual, Danzo was already thinking several steps ahead. "For now, though, you have earned some rest. Your training will resume as usual from tomorrow. Be there." With those, words, Danzo dismissed the young Jinchuriki, who bowed and left the elder's office.

As the (faux) crippled man turned back towards his paperwork, he couldn't help but smirk. "That boy will truly become the sword that will strike down all of Konoha's enemies. Soon, Konoha will prove that it is the greatest of the Hidden Villages."

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**And that's done! I have to say, writing your own fic is so much harder than reading and criticizing someone else's work.**

**Also, please check out the poll on my profile. I need a good number of responses soon.**


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